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System Shock Remastered Kickstarter Launched (PC/XB1) | 900K Goal - Demo Available

tornjaw

Member
Wasn't really planning on getting in on this, but with what is now less than two minutes to go, I backed at the 30$ tier.
 
Yada yada final breakdown (To lazy to make it transparent so have some Dreamfall info to fill in the extra blank space.)
SazpL7h.png
 

_machine

Member
I hope I'm not being ignorant here, and I don't think I am, but $1.2 million definitely seems like enough to implement VR, which is getting easier and easier to implement every month if you use Unity or Unreal. It took our guys on the Solus Project like 3 months to implement an 80% functional VR experience. It really wasn't a nightmarishly big time hog.
$1.2 million (nor is it the full budget, they mention as much, and the pre-pro already done will definitely add a size-able chunk) isn't really much when you factor the scope of the game (multiple enemies with different AI routines, a single-player story with various encounters and environments, multiplatform release and certs, a license and legal negotiations, both melee and fps mechanics, musical score etc.) Based on my experience, if it wasn't for their experience (it's quite a veteran team after all) and financing part of the budget on their own, $1.2 wouldn't even be enough to realize the base vision for all the platforms. Now, I know Solus and have talked with Hourences and very much respect and admire your work on it, but it's not as comparable to System Shock and leveraging a staffed, pay-rolled studio to create a more production-wise complex game based on an existing IP with some set expectations. IE. a bootstrapped indie game that might have cost anywhere between 50-500K is easily in reality a multi-million project for an established studio that wants to hire and retain talent, ensure long-term viability and prospect.

Also, as a personal producer pet peeve that I encounter very, very often in my work, is that adding things like VR always (and I mean always) has to come by taking something out. Developers, artists, designers, marketing, everyone always wants to add something to the game, something that's "just a small, known element", but you can never create resources out of nowhere, and if you make it priority, it had better support your vision and your goal, otherwise you end up not shipping or making a poor, non-cohesive product. People are bad at estimating that final 20%, and the part of the work that they won't necessarily do (verifying and reviewing, QA, localization, user-testing etc.) that usually ends up taking more resources than the actual implementation. VR too, is still very resource-heavy, testing-heavy and iteration-heavy (based on talking with people who have shipped successful and non-successful VR-focused titles on Unity).

EDIT: To make sure, my post is more aimed towards the users here who have little experience in game development (since you know so much more about game development than most of GAF), but also even many professional developers might not be so well-versed in game budgets since it's not their responsibility to know and manage the overall production and business case.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Unlike most kickstarter devs, Nightdive has another source of income via their classic game sales, so I'm not too worried about them running out of money.
 
If that's the case, it seems really strange. Surely it can't be more expensive to remix something than it would be create an entire new soundtrack? It doesn't make sense to me at all, a remix or recreation of the original soundtrack should be what's in the game in the first place.

The point of this kickstarter is to recreate System Shock, the music is an important part of it.

They're going off the idea that SS1 was a horror game. Accurate or not, the original music wouldn't really fit a horror game in 2016.

Their other stretch goal is full orchestra. Without both goals... i guess it's just going to be new music without orchestra? I don't know. Soundtrack remix sound like a weird goal... I mean, if they can already make music, why not save time and take the original sountrack and remix it? Making new music sound like more effort than this.

It means they're doing the same music using computer software as opposed to having a live orchestra. Most "orchestral" soundtracks in gaming are done using computers.
 

Eusis

Member
I just hope they go with more of a horror vibe than out and out scary. I don't do too well with that, but it's fine if it's a slightly creepier Bioshock in atmosphere.
 
Xbox One? Seriously?..

I guess MS have chucked the devs a bunch of cash, in which case who can blame them, and probably the majority of sales will be on PC anyway, but I'm very disappointed this won't be launching on the PS4, and it will cost my donation at least.

Still, looks great.

EDIT: Wait so, there is a PS4 version coming? Just not at launch? Any word on how long we are being forced to arbitrarily wait?
 

Cronen

Member
Xbox One? Seriously?..

I guess MS have chucked the devs a bunch of cash, in which case who can blame them, and probably the majority of sales will be on PC anyway, but I'm very disappointed this won't be launching on the PS4, and it will cost my donation at least.

Still, looks great.

But there is a PS4 version coming: Link.

When we launched this Kickstarter, supporting PS4 was a possibility, but we hadn't started talking to Sony just yet about it. We were all focused on wrapping the demo up and prepping the Kickstarter. We already had strong contacts at Microsoft from prior projects, so supporting XboxOne was less of an unknown. After we saw the overwhelming demand for PS4, we reshuffled our priorities and focused on talking to Sony about making that happen. After a few weeks and lotttts of emails, we are officially on track for bringing System Shock to the PS4!

So not to do with Microsoft 'chucking the devs a bunch of cash'. Just that they had prior contacts at Microsoft, and so it was probably easier to get started there.

EDIT:

Wait so, there is a PS4 version coming? Just not at launch? Any word on how long we are being forced to arbitrarily wait?

AFAIK, there's no mention of the PS4 version being delayed or not coming out at launch. But I could be wrong. I've not followed the development/kickstarter of the game that well.
 
EDIT: Wait so, there is a PS4 version coming? Just not at launch? Any word on how long we are being forced to arbitrarily wait?

Did you read anything in this thread at all? They got an Xbone dev kit given to them and had contacts with MS, Sony gave nothing so they went ahead with what they had. Nothing arbitrary about it
 

pa22word

Member
Did you read anything in this thread at all? They got an Xbone dev kit given to them and had contacts with MS, Sony gave nothing so they went ahead with what they had. Nothing arbitrary about it

Console warriors thread shitting just for the sake of it has to be the absolute worst thing about kickstarter threads these days. Take your bs elsewhere, please! There are a thousand other threads just about purely dedicated to console wars. Go post in your little containment threads and leave the rest of us in peace for god's sake.
 

Varth

Member
Huh? Did he say anything wrong? Calm down. Game IS coming to PS4, nothing wrong in talking about it.

Edit: nm, realized you were prob talking about caipirinha. Point still stands: stop with the "Who let the peasants in" attitudes, please.
 

Spirited

Mine is pretty and pink
Huh? Did he say anything wrong? Calm down. Game IS coming to PS4, nothing wrong in talking about it.

Edit: nm, realized you were prob talking about caipirinha. Point still stands: stop with the "Who let the peasants in" attitudes, please.

I'm pretty sure his attitude is "Who let the console warrior in" because I see nothing wrong with being annoyed at someone jumping into the thread without any info and talk shit about the devs/game/platforms.
 

pa22word

Member
Huh? Did he say anything wrong? Calm down. Game IS coming to PS4, nothing wrong in talking about it.

If you're talking about giblet I'm agreeing with him that the guy he was quoting should have read the thread instead of coming in here and hurling righteous indignation at the developers for the dastardly sin of forsaking his beloved ps4. How dare they, indeed! Forcing him to wait, arbitrarily and thus intentionally. How must he to survive? For as he said, they must have taken bribes from thus such heinous titans of the wooded lands of Washington, micro$oft. Take heed fellow gamers, for we must smite these Devils where they lay to prevent such lowly acts of cowardly speculation harming the good peerage of the ps4!


...like I said, if people want to console war at least stay in the containment threads so the rest of us don't have to put up with the idiocy.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
They just sent out an update saying they've officially tossed Unity into the dumpster where it belongs and have switched to UE4.

Good new all around, but especially good news for the console ports.
 

Instro

Member
They just sent out an update saying they've officially tossed Unity into the dumpster where it belongs and have switched to UE4.

Good new all around, but especially good news for the console ports.

Sounds like they hired some ex-Obsidian folks too.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I guess people get confused because this is a necro bump thread that has the title lacking the platform. I needed to read a lot of times and open the kickstarter page to understand that the info in the OP is really outdated.

BTW the move from Unity to Unreal Engine 4 is a great thing.
 

derFeef

Member
I am very disappointed in this. Not because it's UE, but because it looks very generic now. The first demo looked very uniqe and cool, I loved the pixalated textures. Once they removed them it lost some charm - and now it lost all of it's charm. It looks like generic shooter 3.5. :-(
 

Instro

Member
I am very disappointed in this. Not because it's UE, but because it looks very generic now. The first demo looked very uniqe and cool, I loved the pixalated textures. Once they removed them it lost some charm - and now it lost all of it's charm. It looks like generic shooter 3.5. :-(

Have they actually said they are removing/removed those effects...?
 

Onemic

Member
I am very disappointed in this. Not because it's UE, but because it looks very generic now. The first demo looked very uniqe and cool, I loved the pixalated textures. Once they removed them it lost some charm - and now it lost all of it's charm. It looks like generic shooter 3.5. :-(

It looks the same tbh. Actually better with the UE4 change.

Also didnt they not remove the point filtering, but instead gave you an option to use bilinear filtering instead?
 
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